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What Makes a Good Questionnaire?

Handling Data

Designing Structure, Capturing and Presenting Data

For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation.

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Questioning the question

I wonder what type of

questions they are.

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Hi. Do you usually hang out here?

Yes.

Have you seen any other questions?

No.

Will you be staying long?

No.

Are you going off now?

Yes.

Our questioner meets the closed question…..

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Our questioner meets the closed question…..

So typical! A closed question

always asks things that require

an either/or answer, like ‘yes’

or ‘no’.

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Our questioner meets the open question…..

Great. Have just been speaking to

a closed question – very short and sweet.

Hi, how’s it going?What are your plans, are you

hanging about?

It depends on whether I meet anyone I fancy. Catch you later.

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Our questioner meets the open question…..

Wow! Now there’s a question I can enjoy speaking to! Open questions allow me to say exactly what I want.

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Our questioner meets the order of priority question…..

Tell me, in what order do you prefer the following – work,

rest and play?

Well, play would be first, rest would

be second and work would be

third.

And if you could change your colour, what three colours would you choose, in priority order?

Hmm, black would be my first choice, followed by pink,

and my third choice is white.

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Our questioner meets the order of priority question…..

Now, there’s a question that has everything in priority order. Well, I guess that’s one way of finding things out.

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Our questioner meets the multiple-choice question…..

I am conducting a survey to find the preferred dessert.

Ice-cream, chocolate, or fruit

pie?

Chocolate, any day.

And how many times do you eat

chocolate a week? 1–2 times, 3–4 times or more?

1–2 times would be my choice.

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Our questioner meets the multiple-choice question…..

Those questions were easy to

answer!

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Before you ask a question:

Questioning the question

Question the question!

think about the answer you want to get before deciding on the type of question to ask

think about how much detail you need in the answer

think how quickly you can then collate all the answers together

think how many different answers you want.

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Teenage girls spend more money on their mobile phones than boys.

Now there’s a job for a few questions!

If some different questions got together to produce a

survey/questionnaire, then the hypothesis can be tested.

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To tally or not to tally

A survey can be conducted using a questionnaire or a tally.

Questionnairea set of questions with possible answers on one document the questionnaire is copied and handed out for each individual to complete by ticking boxesquestionnaires are then collected and analysed.

Tallya set of questions with possible answers on one document. the tally is all done on one sheet. Individuals are asked the questions and answers are marked on the same documentthe tally sheet is then counted and analysed.

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QuestionnairePlease tick the relevant boxes, and write in the spaces provided.

What is your gender? male □ female

Do you have a mobile phone? yes □ no

What do you use the phone for? (place in order of most use; 1 = most,

4 = least) 1□ text 2□ calls 3□ games 4□ WAP

How much money do you spend on contract/top-up cards per month? □ £0–5 £5–10 □ £10–15 □ £15+

How much money have you spent on accessories in the last three months? □ £0–5 □ £5–10 £10–15 □ £15+

What has been your biggest expense on your phone?

new cover

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Tally

What is your gender?

male 1111 female 11

Do you have a mobile phone?

yes 11111 no 1

What do you use the phone for? (place in order of most use; 1 = most, 4 = least)

text 1 2 3 1 1 2 calls 2 1 2 3 2 1

games 3 3 1 2 3 4 WAP 4 4 4 4 4 3

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Summary – types of questions

There are different types of questions. A closed question has a yes/no or either/or answer. Open questions have answers of any length. Order of priority questions have more than one answer in order of preference. Multiple choice questions allow a choice of one from a selection.

Think about the answer before deciding on the question.

What can I remember?

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Summary – collecting answers

A hypothesis is a theory which has to be proved or disproved.

A survey can be carried out using a tally or a questionnaire.

Copies of a questionnaire are given to each person answering the questions.

Only one master document is kept for a tally.

A questionnaire is useful to analyse individual answers.

A tally is quicker to complete but gives less information.

What can I remember?